'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETED]

Fifty-five (Part 1)

It's over, it's over.. I'm leaving, I'm gone.. you know I got my reasons... I'm leaving, I'm gone... yeah I swear to God that I'm gone... no looking back when I'm gone... no more... no more... no more......

The beginning of the second trimester:

Nico sat in Dale's office, going over their prep for their upcoming court date. She wasn't named in the civil suit unlike Carter and Dale, she was named as a witness for Zach, but she met Dale every week to go over proceedings because all of this was knew to her, and he was teaching her how to maneuver around an oath... what not to say and how not to say things.

It was a lot of wordplay and mind games that she had to learn, but Dale was patient as he taught her, laid out how things would be worded to her and how she should respond, so on and so forth. She didn't think it could be as much as it was, but Dale Simmons was the most meticulous person she had ever met in her life.

She knew him as Carter's dad but not the hotshot lawyer that everybody knew, and she quickly learned why he was as successful as he was.

Of course he was representing himself and his son, and he had a look in his eyes as he went over the case that he planned to destroy every little bit of confidence Zach had ever gotten in his life... and she actually felt bad for him because he clearly didn't know what he had coming.

He took a lawsuit against him from someone he formerly mentored, after inviting him to his birthday party, extremely personal.

Dale was intelligent, cunning and charming... the three scariest things to have combined in a lawyer if you were going up against him, and Nico was happy to not be on the other side.

She had to tell him everything that happened between she, Carter, and Zach, and she expected a judgmental look, but he treated her no different now than he did before any of this came out. Dale had a very understanding look the entire time that made her feel reassured that all this would be fine.

"I think that's it for today," Dale said, taking his glasses off.

Their court date was set for four weeks from then, so there were still things to cover.

But for now, it was enough.

He didn't want to overwhelm Nico too much.

"Sorry for keeping you longer than usual.." he smiled. "I didn't think Carter would be this late."

The seat next to Nico in his office had been empty since she sat down.

"Are you busy tonight? Diane wanted you over for dinner," Dale said when she wasted no time standing to her feet.

"I can't today. My friend's having a baby shower later on," she smiled, excited to be headed there.

She and Lena had grown closer the last month as they bonded over their pregnancies.

She also had another scan to go to right then. She hadn't told anybody outside of Jada and then Lena about the pregnancy, not even her parents or sister, as Nico was enjoying the feeling of keeping her baby as private for herself for as long as she could.

Lena and her spoke on the phone every other day, as she came to her with any questions because Lena had just left the trimester Nico was entering, and she felt so lucky to have someone close by that was on the same scary journey as she was.

"Oh," Dale's grin widened. "Congratulations to your friend.."

She smiled. "Maybe I'll come to dinner next week?" She suggested instead, as since that first night a month ago, she only went one other time, and Carter didn't show up the night she went.